"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

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Sunday, 14 August 2011

I guess I'll be an "RD" soon

Ha ha. No. Not a registered dietician. A race director, of course.

And with that, two big dreams of mine might come true...

About a week ago I found out I was accepted to volunteer in Honduras with Unite for Sight (which a friend of mine, Jennifer Staple, started back as an undergrad student). This organization
provides sight-saving surgeries in very poor areas of the world without any cost to the patients and with very high quality. SR, The Lorax, Mattias (maybe Natti?) and I will thus all be going to Honduras this January!

(nope, that's not me)

And this race director thing? Well, part of the "deal" with volunteering with U f S is you need to raise $1700 to help fund their care. That, ya know, is a LOT of money. And the best way I could think of to round a sum like this up was to organize a run. (I simply cannot bring myself to send emails asking for money from friends and family - even for such a good cause - I just feel like people have to get something out of their donation other than self-righteousness/ "peace of mind"), but here is my fundraising page, since you're insisting.

For the past two years, I have talked about organizing a new trail run in our area of Denmark. My initial idea was that it would be a 50miler/80k race, but I don't think I'll get enough participants to raise the money. So the it will be 3 shorter distances. Here are the details:

What: Å til Ås* 5k, ½ marathon & marathon
When: September 25, 10:30 AM
Where: Mogenstrup to Gavnø and back again (start at Fladsåhallen)
Description: 50% on hilly forest trails, 50% on bike paths. Initial 5k loop and then out and back race for both the ½ and full marathon.
Supported by: Herlufsholm Triathlon Klub

*
Å: River
Ås: Esker (look it up!)

Soon I'll have a website with lots of picture and 3 course maps, but give me a little time! I know most of you who read this will have a pretty tough time getting to it, but I hope it's okay I mention it. And you're all invited, of course.

Here are just a few teaser pictures of the half marathon and marathon routes, which I have posted before:

(a lot of it is actually in the woods, but I just can't find those pictures right now)

But I also have a new one for you (bigger, better 8lb 13oz/4kg baby! draped in duckies):

My iPod broke in the rain this week (just fixed it today!), so I have no new running songs. Instead I'll give you an old favourite, simply because the lead singer's name is Mattias :) "We are there, you are out here" by Dúné.

News: Challenge Copenhagen ironman was held yesterday. Congrats to the two Aussies, Tim Berkel and Rebekah Keat, on their wins (8:11 and 8:52). Results here.

Oh that looks like fun, wish I could be there for your race. Had to laugh at your top picture "getting back into shape 2wks after Mattias birth" - didn't realise you'd lost any shape whatsoever :) !! Love the look of that Honduras trip, it is fantastic the family can go too, what an opportunity! You and bub look wonderful in that pic together, you are amazing SLG, continuously raising the bar for yourself and others.

I am amazed how often I get asked that question! I personally have so much milk that I have called the Danish Mother's Milk hotline to start selling my extra milk. Our freezer is almost full now of extra pumped milk! And I have lost weight fast since his birth (under pre-pregnancy now) and have not been good at staying hydrated. I have never seen any evidence that women who run have trouble maintaining their milk suply. Have you seen/experienced this? I think it's a really good question and I have seen one study saying women who run don't have more issues than women who don't, but I can't remember where I read it (I'll have to try to find it again).

First of all, congrats on the birth of Mattias! He is beautiful and I am so happy for you. As far as the breastfeeding and running goes, my question, which may be a bit TMI, is: What do you do to prevent/deal with leaking issues while you are running (esp. running 2hrs. +)? I am due in about 6 weeks and still running some and hope to continue asap after delivery, but am concerned that this will make things messy/uncomfortable...any advice?

Heather, please come to Denmark anytime and I will run the route with you :).

Shannon, funny, I just looked down at my shirt today after an 18 miler because I thought I felt milk, but I couldn't see anything. Fortunately I haven't run into any problems yet with milk just coming out. One problem I do have though is my (very beautiful) nips being quite visible under my shirt during/after long runs so I put bandaids over them. Not sure it helps all that much, though. Gotta love getting long-winded, non-helpful advice, huh?

SLG- I don't have any personal experience with breast feeding yet. I am due in 4 weeks. But have talked to friends who have said that as they lost weight and their body composition changed, they didn't produce as much milk. I was curious because I am trying to imagine this myself and wondering where I may be able to strike the right balance. Just wondering if you had some scientific insight on the subject.

Jessie - I found the article I had seen before. They found that in controls vs. women who both lost weight and exercised no significant difference in milk production, composition or infant weight gain. I can send you (or anyone else) the PDF if you write me an email (sealegsgirlblog@gmail.com). It is:McCrory MA, Nommsen-Rivers LA, Mole PA, Lonnerdal B, Dewey KG. A randomized trial of the short-term effects of dieting vs dieting with aerobic exercise on lactation performance. Am J Clin Nutr.1999;69 :959– 967.

SLG-I found the study that you mentioned. Seems to prove that postpartum weight loss has no negative impact on breast milk production. Not sure if I am taking the information in correctly, but it did seem that people who were dipping below their pre-pregnancy weight did experience a decrease in production? Not sure if I am reading the study right but the information that I feel applies to me is good information none the less. Thanks! I hope your over flow of milk turns out to be beneficial and profitable. Nice work!

The race and the Honduras trip sound great. You need to add a midwest compnent to the race ;)

Adding to the milk discussion: I had a lot of supply issues at first requiring meds, herbs, etc to make enough, this was all within the first week or so. I was back to normal running mileage a few months PP and through marathon training actually saw my supply increase even more. I too was asked that question and find it interesting the assumption that exercise and losing the pregnancy weight are associated with low supply in many people's minds.

Hello from Rude Skov

Photo by Stine Sophie Winckel

...

My name is Tracy. I am a physician scientist from the USA, living with my husband and two young boys in Denmark. I work as a post-doc fellow at Næstved Hospital. I have a scientific interest in vision loss, vision loss during exercise, exercise, running during pregnancy, MAF training as well as nutrition and health for athletes. I also have a love for music, physics, statistics, cycling, yoga, cross-country skiing, bla bla bal.

I was a member of Team USA at the IAU World Championships in Ultra Trail Running in 2013 in Wales. I am now training to run with Team Denmark at the IAU World Championships in Annency, France in May 2015.